2 and a half years later…
Luke frowned in concentration as he worked to get the wings on the ship he was drawing just right. Lately, his dreams had been full of flying the ship through space, with other ships just like it, with Artoo his only flying companion. They reminded him of the speeders that his dad and Uncle Ben had created, that were now just starting to be used in major cities across the country. He loved watching his dad and his Uncle Ben work on them in their shop, and he loved telling people he saw landing them in the parking lot of the stores his mom took him to that his dad was the one who built those ships. Sometimes they said, "Oh, that's nice," and he got the feeling they didn't really believe him because he was a kid. But sometimes, they took a good look at him and suddenly wanted to take selfies with him and talk to him about his dad.
His mom made him promise to stop telling strangers about his dad after that.
Maybe, he thought, as he continued to work on the wings so that they looked just like what he saw in his head, Dad would like my picture and would make the ship just for me. The thought made him smile, and though he was starting to get frustrated with his limited drawing skills, he continued to try anyway. He wanted to make his dad proud of him, and if his dad built the ship, maybe he'd let Luke help, too. Luke was fascinated by all things mechanical and electrical, just like his father was. He was proud to be Anakin Skywalker's son.
The idea of building his own ship design with his dad got him really excited, and he had to pause before he messed up again, and looked back up at the playground.
If he wasn't at school, he probably could have finished. He didn't care for this boring school, with people he couldn't tell about his Jedi-powers, and teachers who told him stuff he thought a Jedi didn't need to know. Dad, however, said Jedi did need to know this stuff, and that's why he and his mother sent him and his sister to school, but Luke still didn't see how it was applicable.
He did like science though, and he found math to be pretty easy.
Still, he would much rather be at his dad's Jedi school, learning with the older padawans. He and Leia had started going there after regular school hours, but the wait for boring school to be done was horrible. And, then, on top of that, his mom made him do his boring homework before she'd let his dad teach him any super cool Jedi stuff…Luke made a face. Maybe he should start doing his homework during recess instead, so he didn't have to do it later at home.
He looked down at his drawing, about to continue, when he felt the familiar presence of his sister touch his mind. Come play with me, Luke! He hesitated. He was always with his twin, except during boring school. That was because they weren't in the same class. At first, Luke had hated it, but then he had grown to like having some time apart from her. He loved his little sister to death, but sometimes she could be annoying. Yeah, sometimes he played with her at recess, but playing at recess only reminded him that he couldn't use his Jedi powers around the other kids, and it frustrated him to no end.
I'm drawing, Leia. He sent back through their bond, I want to get this done before my soccer game tomorrow. Tomorrow was Saturday, and though he preferred to spend his free time in his dad's Jedi school, he did like playing soccer. His best friend Ezra was even on the team. He frowned. He wished Ezra came to this school…
He could practically feel his sister roll her eyes at him. That's so dumb.
You're so dumb. He shot back, though he didn't really mean it, and she knew it.
Fine. I'll do something else. He felt her pull away from him, and he continued on with his drawing. It wasn't long though before he felt his sister's presence again, this time full of stress. He stopped. Leia? He called through their bond.
She didn't answer.
That was unusual. With a sigh, he realized that he needed to go check on her, and closed his drawing notebook, tucking it under his arm as he made his way over the sandy ground of the playground, following their bond to find her.
It didn't take him long. There his sister stood, her hands clenched into fists, standing over a destroyed sand castle in the sand pit, glaring up at none other than…
Jabba.
The kid was as big and mean as he was ugly. His dark hair was short and stubby on his overly large head. He had dark amber eyes widely spaced on his face, giving his features an odd look, skin oily and pockmarked, and jowls as flabby and rotund as the rest of him. Even though he was in second grade like them, he looked more like a fifth grader. He towered over most of the kids on the playground, and he was so large, the boring school lunch ladies always made him take fruit with his lunch. He knew, because, unfortunately, Jabba was in his class.
And Jabba hated Luke.
That was another reason why Luke didn't like going to boring school. Jabba always found ways to bully Luke. Sometimes he would trip him while he was going back to his desk. Sometimes at lunch he shot spit balls at Luke's head with a he would push Luke until he would give him the answers to their homework. Sometimes he would steal Luke's food off of his plate. Luke tried to use the methods taught to him at the Jedi school, but to no avail. They never worked on Jabba. He once even tried to mind trick the kid, but all he'd gotten was pushed into the sand at the playground.
But, Jabba had always left Leia alone, probably because she was in a different class. Leia never liked how Jabba treated Luke, and had wanted to tell their parents, but Luke never let her. He wanted to solve the problem himself and then tell his dad and make his dad proud of him. If he could resolve it like a Jedi, he reasoned, his dad would be happy…and maybe take him out for ice cream, just the two of them.
"Leave us alone, Jabba." Leia snapped. Us? Luke frowned—Leia was by herself. Who was this 'us'?
"Does little Lukie always have his baby sister fight his battles for him?" Luke winced at the name—he hated being called Lukie. But what was most important in that moment was that clearly, Leia had said something to Jabba about Luke. Judging by the ruined sandcastle, Luke had a pretty good idea what Jabba had done in response.
"Don't call him that!" Leia yelled, as Luke began to make his way over to intervene. "His name is Luke!" Luke normally would have pointed out to her that she called him Lukie whenever she wanted to make him mad, but he didn't think this was the best time to remind her. But then, being his twin, maybe Leia felt she had a right to do that - even if no one else did.
Jabba disagreed.
"I'll call him whatever I want! And, you can't stop me, Miss Prissy!" Jabba said in that strange almost slurred accent he always had as Luke approached. "Oh look, here comes Lukie now." He sneered, pulling himself up to his full height and glowering at Luke.
"Leave her alone, Jabba," Luke said, doing his best to ignore the name.
Maybe that was the wrong thing to say. Jabba just grinned. "What, you don't like people picking at your twin?"
"I said," Luke stated again through gritted teeth, his voice low and dangerous. "Leave Leia alone."
Jabba paused, as if sensing a change in Luke. Luke met the other boy's amber eyes straight on, his glare hard and unyielding like solid arctic ice. He couldn't help but absently think, as he'd thought many times before, that sometimes the bigger boy reminded him of the toads he and Leia caught by the stream running through their backyard.
Jabba seemed to have realized that Leia was an off-limits subject, for instead he grinned ferally and before Luke could stop him, grabbed his drawing notebook. He held it high above Luke's head. "What are you doing with this, Lukie? Homework? What a nerd!"
"Give it back!" Luke said, though he was secretly relieved that Jabba had turned his attention away from Leia.
"Come and get it!" Jabba held it higher still over Luke's head. Luke internally debated on whether or not to play Jabba's game. He could always draw another picture, true.
But Leia beat him to it. "He said," Leia snapped, with annoyance dripping from every word, reaching up. She was even shorter than he was, and it might have been comical had she not been doing it to Jabba Hutt. "Give it back!"
It happened so quickly.
Jabba's eyes flashed in irritation, and he reached out and shoved Leia as hard as he could away from him. Leia was generally pretty well balanced on on her feet, which fared her well in lightsaber practice, but here, the unexpected shove caught her by surprise, and she stumbled backward and fell with an audible thump to the sand. She scowled and opened her mouth to chew the bigger boy out again, but she never got the chance. Watching Jabba push his sister…something inside Luke snapped.
No one.
NO ONE!
Hurt his sister!
Luke abruptly yelled with rage and launched himself at the bigger boy, grabbing him around the waist, leaning into him with his shoulder. Surprised, Jabba fell backward onto the ground, Luke on top of him. Luke managed to get two solid punches to Jabba's face before the other boy recovered and used his superior hulking size and flipped Luke onto his back, using his weight to pin Luke to the ground, while he landed his own punches to Luke's face.
Distantly, Luke could hear other kids stop whatever they were doing to gather around them, yelling 'Fight! Fight! Fight!' over and over again, but above them all, Luke distinctly heard Leia screaming at the top of her voice at them to stop.
It might have ended with Luke losing against his clearly physically stronger opponent, but Luke was through messing around with Jabba's crap and was not playing fair. The kid had hurt his sister, and he was done. Bully him? Fine. But bully his sister? Nope. Not happening. That crossed the line.
Using the Force, Luke pushed the boy off of him and jumped onto him again, punching him as hard as he could repeatedly in his nose, over and over again. Anytime Jabba moved to get out from under Luke, he again used the Force to slam the bully back hard into the sand.
Suddenly, hands were under his armpits, pulling him back and off of Jabba. He flailed wildly, trying to get back to beating Jabba to a pulp, but the hands were firm. "Luke Skywalker!" The voice of his teacher, Mrs. Benson, snapped, "Stop right this instant!"
"No!" Luke yelled, "He hurt my sister! He…!"
Leia's voice suddenly slammed into him through their bond. Luke, stop right now! I'm okay! Please, stop! Luke stopped moving, gulping in air with his heaving lungs, his knuckles of his right hand now bruised and swollen from all the punches he'd thrown at Jabba. He glanced over at Leia, where she was being held back by her own teacher, Mrs. Reynolds. Tears were running down her face, and she was staring at him, mouth agape, pleading with her eyes for him to stop.
The fight left him, and he abruptly stopped, his shoulders slumping in defeat. He watched Leia sigh in relief and try to go to him, but her teacher held her back. Another teacher was helping Jabba off the ground—the boy was covered in his own blood. Luke glared at him, as if daring him to try something again, but when the bigger boy looked back at him…
There was real fear in in his eyes.
"That's not good enough!" Obi-Wan insisted, "I want a sure answer of where he can be found!"
The Jedi that had contacted them via comm, Kanaan, frowned. "We've narrowed it down to three potential places, Master Kenobi. Moscow, Berlin, and Budapest. That's more answers to go on than we've had since the attack two years ago at Master Skywalker's old home. Grievous isn't exactly an easy cyborg to find, y'know."
"Agreed. But, there aren't too many cyborgs running around on this planet, either," Anakin pointed out wearily from his chair. They were sitting in the library of their Jedi Academy, Anakin's comm link lying in the middle of the long conference table they sat at. Currently, they were the only two in the library, the other older padawans were practicing in one of the sparring rings outside with Ahsoka instructing. Normally, Anakin was the one who taught lightsaber technique, but when he'd gotten the comm call from Jedi Knight Kanaan, he had Ahsoka take over while he and Obi-Wan stepped into the quiet of the library, named after Mindy in honor of all the hard work she'd done to compile the majority of the information in that room. They were there to discuss the updates on the hunt for Grievous and Palpatine, who were both still at large.
He had to admit, though, this was more information than they'd had in a long while. Even Anakin and Obi-Wan had gone out on the hunt a few weeks out of the last two summers and found barely anything, much to their frustration. They knew it was only a matter of time before Palatine would strike again.
Despite that, things were going very well for them. Anakin had joined NASA, after getting the space agency to agree -in writing- to all his stipulations and terms, and was rapidly making improvements on space travel every day. He and Padme had fixed up the damage to their home in California after Grievous' attack and sold it. Because their relationship with Padme's parents was strained further by Grievous' attack, Sola and Darred came over with the girls and Shmi had flown out to help them pack up their belongings for their relocation to Texas. Obi-Wan and Satine sold their home also, and the two families took a week to trek across the country via caravan, with Anakin and Obi-Wan driving their respective large U-Haul rental trucks, Padme driving herself, Galen, and all the kids in the SUV, Ashoka and Will driving Anakin's truck, and Satine and Peter driving Obi-Wan's truck, as she had sold her silver Lamborghini before the move.
Upon arrival in the Houston area, they had gone in together and first rented a huge eight bedroom, five bath house for six months while they waited for their respective homes to be built. Satine and Padme had relocated their law firm, and they bought a one story brick office about a thirty minute drive away to set up their office in, and they were rapidly coming in high demand as defense attorneys. As the only JediHealer, Vokara had also relocated to Houston and had taken on a padawan of her own, who was a third year medical student.
Meanwhile, the company Anakin and Obi-Wan owned was making leaps and bounds in progress for not just droids and bacta tanks and bandages, but also better transportation on the planet. Anakin himself wasn't quite as involved with the company as much as he used to be due to his job at NASA, though he remained co-owner and still attended every board meeting through a live camera feed, but Ahsoka had taken over whenever he wasn't available. The factory back in California was now being run quite successfully by Rex, who had retired from teaching at Stanford to come work full time for them as their general manager. They had remodeled the floor of the factory where Anakin's and Obi-Wan's offices were to accommodate a private four bedroom, three bath apartment that they stayed in whenever they flew back to check on things with the factory.
Padme really wasn't kidding when she said Texas had lots of land. Anakin and Obi-Wan had flown out to Houston shortly after Mindy's funeral, searching out and then purchasing a massive plot of land just outside of Houston, where they had built both of their sprawling, two-story homes, a private airstrip with a separate hanger for their private company jet, another workshop for their droid business at the very back of Anakin's own private property, plus a massive Jedi Academy between their two homes.
Not that the government knew that it was actually, in reality, a training facility and headquarters for the Jedi. Anakin and Obi-Wan had pitched it as a school for gifted children, available to anyone all over the world. It was only tour-able by appointment; that way they could make everything look the way they had pitched it, and all visitors were first submitted to a rigorous background check for security purposes well before their scheduled tour date.
Obi-Wan and Anakin used their private- now almost unlimited - financial resources to find Force-sensitives the world over, helping to relocate these children and their immediate families to the area. As long as their parents were willing to move to Houston - and agreed to a strict, uncompromising rule to never reveal the Jedi's existence or business to anyone else outside the Jedi- they would be welcomed in with open arms.
As a result, their group of Jedi had grown quite a bit. It made it a bit more of a struggle to hide from the prying eyes of the world, but between Anakin, Obi-Wan, and Ahsoka, they made it work. Neeja and his younglings still protected the lightsaber crystal cave in Nepal, but most of the older padawans had come to the States to take their Jedi vows and begin teaching padawans at the school. In two more years, Anakin's own padawan, Galen, would be able to move and stay in the U.S. Their lives were busy, and still full of danger, but they were happy.
Well. Usually happy. Obi-Wan didn't seem too happy at this particular moment.
"I'm sorry," he sighed, rubbing his temples. "Satine is heavily pregnant. I want to at least get rid of Grievous' threat before she has the baby."
"We're doing our best, Master," Kanaan assured him, "But it may not be possible."
"He's right." Anakin reluctantly agreed. He wanted Grievous taken care of just as much as Obi-Wan did. He had promised Mindy that he would, after all. But, unlike Anakin who had experienced his family being threatened before (and had lost a child and nearly lost Padme in the process), Obi-Wan hadn't. Ella being put in danger like that had really rattled him, and though he usually was in control over it, Satine being pregnant again made Obi-Wan even more jittery and nervous. "But we'll find him, Obi-Wan. You just need to be patient."
Obi-Wan couldn't help but laugh a little at that. "Look at you. Anakin Skywalker, of all people, telling me to be patient. Oh, how the tables have turned." Anakin grinned, opening his mouth to respond…
But, he suddenly felt Padme's presence arrive back at their house. Frowning, he checked the time on his IPhone. It was much too early for her to be home yet. This was her week to go to work (he was glad he'd gotten NASA to agree to the every-other-week-work-from-home thing). She shouldn't have been back until later that afternoon, as she usually left the office at about 5:30. "I'm sorry," He said, standing up. "Something has come up. Obi-Wan, go ahead and finish your conversation. I'll get my comm from you later."
Obi-Wan paused, looking at his best friend for a moment. Anakin could feel him use the Force to identify what could have made Anakin get up so suddenly, but he, too, quickly sensed Padme's presence and understanding lit in his eyes. "Alright. I'll see you later." Anakin nodded and headed back out of the library.
Although the Academy was enormous, Anakin knew it like the back of his hand. He had a hand in designing the layout, after all. It wasn't long before he was out of the main building and jogging across the winding trails of the cypress-tree-thicketed property and through the side gate in the brick fence around his own private backyard, back over towards his house.
As he approached, he again reached out through the Force to find his wife. He found her in their huge white kitchen, and therefore, instead of going in through the front door, he came in by way of the furnished patio and through the glass sliding back door. As he entered the house, Jedi looked up from where he was lounging in his plush dog bed by the back door and barked a greeting, which he ignored, and Anakin vaguely registered Artoo beeping, twittering, and whistling responses to an aggrieved sounding Threepio somewhere remotely in the very large house. He paid them no mind. His wife was his sole focus.
Padme was still in her dress skirt and pastel colored floral blouse, her hair pinned back into one of her elaborate updos (well, elaborate for this world) for work. She stood at the large island in the middle of the kitchen, her hands on the dark granite top, looking down at her purse, though she glanced up as he came in. "Hey, Sweetheart," he said, going over to her. "What's going on?"
Through the Force, he could feel her aura grow nervous and excited at the same time. "Everything is fine, Ani." She assured him, but as he approached, she turned and wrapped her arms around him and buried her face against his chest.
Confused, he wrapped his own arms around her. "If everything is fine," He asked, "Then why are you home early?"
"Maybe I felt like it." She teased, though it was a half-hearted and distracted answer.
Anakin wasn't buying it. "Maybe," he conceded, "But I know you better than that. Something's up, Angel."
She sighed deeply, pulling away from him. "Like I said, everything is fine. Better than fine, actually."
No, that wasn't cryptic at all. Arching an eyebrow, he took her hands in his, urging her to look at him. "Then why are you nervous?"
She gave him an amused look. "Reading my emotions again, are you?"
He shrugged, though he couldn't help a small smile playing out across his lips. "Well, to be fair, you're sort of broadcasting them. I'm pretty sure any of the Jedi who are at the Academy can feel them."
She blushed. "Well," she said slowly, "That's sort of awkward, but I guess not surprising." She sighed again and looked up into his blue eyes and smiled softly. "Ani, something wonderful…and unexpected…has happened."
Her words stirred up long distant memories of when she had first told him she was pregnant, back in their old galaxy. She had been nervous then too, and…
Wait a minute…
"Ani," she said carefully, "I'm pregnant."
At first, he just stared at her. Certainly, it was unexpected! They had just sort of...assumed that Luke and Leia were the only children the Force would ever give them. After all, they were the only children they'd had in their old galaxy. But this…this would be new. Completely new. Neither of them would have met this child yet. They had no idea who it would look like, or if it was a boy or a girl, or if they would be Force-sensitive or…the possibilities were seemingly endless.
But they were having another baby!
He was going to be a father again!
A massive, probably dorky, smile spread across his face. "R-really?" He asked, his voice barely above a whisper.
She smiled back, nodding. "I took a home pregnancy test on Monday, and it came back positive. So, I went to the doctor during lunch today, and she confirmed it. I'm about six weeks along. That's why I came home early. I go back in two weeks for my first ultrasound."
He was so happy! He wanted to rush back to the Academy and tell everyone he could find this wonderful news. He couldn't wait to call his mother and tell her! Shmi will be thrilled, he was certain. After all, she adored Luke and Leia, Owen's daughter, Kylee, and Ella also.
Oh, Force!
They were going to be parents again! Luke and Leia would have a sibling! Laughing, he picked Padme up, twirling her around and around, while she laughed with him, throwing her arms around his neck.
His wife. His beautiful, beloved wife was pregnant again! With their baby! He finally set her down gently, taking her face in his hands, rubbing his thumbs across her cheekbones, and tenderly kissed her before pulling back and running a hand through his hair. "We have to tell Luke and Leia!" He grinned, "Do you think they'll be happy?"
"I don't know, Ani, but I hope so." Padme smiled, one hand going to her still flat belly. She wasn't showing yet, but Anakin couldn't wait until she was and…
"Let's go get them. Right now! We'll go out for dinner to celebrate!" He announced, going for the hook where he kept the keys to his speeder.
"No, Ani, we can't just pull them out of school," Padme said, following him.
"Why not?" He asked, and as he picked the keys up, his phone in his back pocket started to buzz. He began to fish it out.
"Because they need to understand that regular school is just as important as the Jedi Academy. Luke especially needs that reinforcement. If you pull him out of school all the time, what kind of message does that send?" She asked.
She had a point. "Okay. Fine," he sighed, looking down at the phone number. No name. It wasn't a number saved into his phone, but it had their area code. "Hold on, Angel, I have to get this." He thumbed the phone screen to answer the call. "Anakin Skywalker here. How can I help you?" He paused listening, turning to frown at his wife's questioning look. Apprehension began to replace the jubilation he had been feeling. "Yes, I'm their father." More listening, and apprehension turned into a sinking, gut wrenching feeling.
"He did what?!"
Anakin stormed into the office of the elementary school his children attended. The saying 'Everything's bigger in Texas' was not just a saying—it was the absolute truth. It applied to everything, from grocery stores (Padme's favorite place to shop now was a mega grocery store called H-E-B), to women with big hair and men with big trucks, to big schools.
This school was no exception. It looked more like a large middle school rather than an elementary school. The office he entered was bigger than Obi-Wan's and his office put together. "Where is my son?" he snapped at the woman he assumed was the secretary.
The secretary was dealing with another woman who was wailing something about her 'poor baby boy' but she glanced at Anakin regardless, despite her focus on the blubbering mother. "I'm sorry sir, but who are you?"
"I'm Anakin Skywalker," Anakin impatiently said, as he leaned against the counter. In the back of his mind, he knew there was no way the woman could have known who he was. It was a big school, after all. "My children are Luke and Leia Skywalker. You have both of them. I received a call…"
The wailing woman whirled around suddenly, cutting Anakin off and startling him a little bit. "You," she snarled, pointing a fat finger toward him,"You're the father of that monster who attacked my poor baby!"
Anakin practically had to bite his tongue to keep from lashing out at her for calling his son that. "I'm sorry, Mrs…uh, what is your name?"
"Hutt!" She snapped at him. "My son is Jabba Hutt, and your son attacked him and broke his nose!"
Anakin just blinked at her. He had dealt far too often with the Hutt's in his old galaxy (he even spoke fluent Huttese still), and for whatever reason, he'd assumed he wouldn't have to deal with them here. Apparently, he was wrong.
So very, very wrong.
It was strange to see her in human form though…But, now that he knew who she was, she did sort of have a toad-like look to her, with her multiple chins, large squishy-looking body habitus, and her movements were sluggish, as if she were moving in a drugged haze. "Right," He said, "Mrs. Hutt. I know my son. My son doesn't just attack people randomly for no reason." Actually, he had never attacked anyone before. Ever. Something was up. He knew it, and Anakin was going to get to the bottom of this.
However, if Jabba the Hutt was involved…even as a human kid, Anakin had no doubt that Jabba had been the one to start all of this. "Obviously, he does!," She disagreed angrily, "Because now, I have to go collect my son from the nurse's office to take him to the hospital!" Her eyes narrowed. "You can bet you'll be hearing from my lawyer."
Anakin was not in the mood for this. He was already on edge after finding out that his children were in the principal's office because his son had gotten into a fight. He was dangerously on edge, and had he still been Darth Vader, he would have put the woman in her place for threatening him and calling his son a monster. But, he wasn't a Sith Lord any longer. He was Anakin Skywalker, Jedi Grandmaster, and acting like a Sith was not how he handled things anymore.
No, not even with the Hutt's.
However, that didn't mean he didn't swear curses in Huttese silently to himself at the situation. Instead, he plastered on a fake smile. "Oh, I look forward to it," he told her with relish, struggling, and not really succeeding, to hold back the biting sarcasm in his words. "Just be aware, Mrs. Hutt, that my wife is one of the best defense attorneys in the state, and I won't hold her back from filing a counter lawsuit." He didn't know the situation yet enough to know if they had a case to do that, but he saw the hesitation in the woman's eyes, which was enough. For now.
"Hmph." She grumbled, turning away, "You'll be hearing from me again."
Oh, I'm sure I will, Anakin thought dryly, as she almost slithered off towards what Anakin assumed was the nurse's office. He turned back to the secretary. "I'll ask again," he said, trying to keep his voice cordial, "Where are my children?"
"Right this way, Sir." She led him to the very back of the office and around a corner, where he immediately found Leia sitting in a blue plastic chair outside of a door that had a plaque with the words "Principal Chancy" on it. The moment she saw him, her eyes brightened a little, and he was suddenly hit with her presence. It was filled with worry and confusion. "Daddy," She said, her eyes tearing up. "I'm sorry, I…"
He held up a hand, stopping her. "We'll talk about this soon enough. Just sit tight while I deal with your brother."
"But, Daddy, it isn't his fault!" He paused, watching his daughter, as the secretary knocked on the principal's door and stuck her head inside, and listened to Leia's explanation. "Jabba has been being mean to Luke for weeks, and I didn't like it, so I told Jabba to leave him alone and…"
Anakin bit his lip to keep himself from cursing out loud. He was half tempted to go to the nurse's office to confront the Hutt's himself, but he knew it wouldn't do any good. Why hadn't Luke told him that he was getting bullied at school? That would certainly explain his reluctance to go to school.
The secretary interrupted Leia. "Mrs. Chancy will see you now, Sir."
"We'll talk more about this later Leia. Stay there and wait for me," Anakin said, and he sent comforting thoughts to her through the Force as he entered the office. He felt her relax a little, though he could still feel her worry for her brother.
Luke.
He sat in one of the plush chairs in front of the large mahogany desk, staring down at his hands so that Anakin couldn't see his face. A thin woman with short red hair looked at Anakin over the rim of her glasses. "Ah," she said, her voice full of disapproval, "Mr. Skywalker. Please, sit down. I was just about to discuss what happened with your son…."
"Without me here?" Anakin's voice was hard as he crossed over to his son, reaching out through the Force…Only to hit a brick wall around his son's mind. Odd. That wasn't like his son. Leia, yes. Luke, no.
He pushed a little, but the defense shield his son had set up held firm. If he really wanted to, Anakin could have broken through it, but he didn't want to invade his son like that, even if he was desperate for some answers. He settled for sitting down in the plush chair next to him, trying to get a good look at his son's face.
"That wasn't my intention, I assure you," Mrs. Chancy was saying, "I was just trying to understand the full story."
"And what did he say?" Anakin asked, glancing at the woman.
"Nothing yet," she admitted, "All I know, so far, is Jabba's story. He claims that he was simply talking to Leia when Luke attacked him for no reason."
Luke's head snapped up at that, and for the first time, Anakin saw the purplish-blue bruises forming on his cheek and the split lower lip. Glancing lower, he saw the swollen and bruised knuckles of Luke's hand draped on the armrest. He clenched the arms of his chair in fury. "That's a lie!" Luke insisted through gritted teeth, "He kicked Leia's sandcastle, and he pushed her to the ground!"
Now it all made sense.
Mrs. Chancy paused. "I see." She said, her voice carefully neutral. "Has Jabba bullied Leia before?"
"No." Luke said sourly. At least the boy was talking now.
"And has he been bullying you?" This time, Luke didn't answer. Mrs. Chancy took that as a sign of agreement. "Have you told your teacher that he's been bullying you?" Again, no answer. "Luke, you need to tell an adult. Fighting is not the answer."
Luke looked down at his hands again, absently rubbing his swollen knuckles with his opposite hand, a sign that he was done talking to the principal. Anakin clenched his jaw, his mind whirling. Luke was most certainly his son. Sometimes, he was so much like him, it was scary.
And this was not the type of something he wanted Luke to take after him in.
"So, what does this all mean, exactly?" Anakin asked, getting straight to the point.
"It means that both boys will be suspended from school for three days," Mrs. Chancy replied matter-of-factly, and when Anakin opened his mouth to argue, she held a hand up. "We have a strict policy not to take sides in situations like this, Mr. Skywalker. I will contact Luke's teacher and see if she can move him away from Jabba…"
"Hang on. They're in the same class?" Anakin interrupted, angry once again at this bit of unexpected news. Force, he wished he'd known about this sooner. "No. Absolutely not. You're going to move Luke to a different class. NOW. Today. I insist on it."
The woman paused, as if considering her words carefully. "I'm not so sure…"
"I am, Mrs. Chancy." He didn't want any of his children to have to deal with Jabba more than they had to. The very idea that Jabba and the Hutts were even in this world sickened Anakin, but he couldn't exactly do anything to Jabba (other than have the Jedi monitor his family's movements from now on), when he was just a kid. That was highly frowned upon in this world. "I don't want this to happen again."
She still hesitated, but she must have seen the steely resolution in Anakin's eyes. "Fine. I'll get the paperwork drawn up suspension stands, but the office will notify you first thing Monday morning with Luke's new class assignment." She finally relented.
"Good." Anakin stood. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm taking my children home."
Mrs. Chancy nodded, looking back at Luke. "If Jabba continues to bother you or Leia, come straight to us, alright?"
Luke nodded reluctantly, standing up, not meeting anyone's eyes. Again, Anakin was reminded of just how much like him Luke was, and now, with a new baby on the way, he wondered if this baby would be even more like him.
Suddenly, he was much more nervous than he had been before.
"Let's go, Luke. Your mother is worried." He said, putting a hand on his son's shoulder and leading him out of the principal's office, telling him quietly, "We're going to have a talk, young man."
He drove the twins home first. He was silent the whole ride, just as Luke was. It was Leia who talked constantly, telling Anakin exactly what happened. She occasionally tried to ask Luke questions, but Luke ignored her, staring out the window of the speeder at the passing scenery below them. When he touched the speeder down on the long paved driveway of their home, Anakin turned the vehicle off, and sighed. "Leia, your mother is waiting inside in the kitchen. Why don't you go tell her what happened?"
"Okay, Daddy!" Leia said, throwing a concerned look at Luke before climbing out of the back seat and going in the house. Anakin thought she might have tried to talk to her brother through their connection, but Luke's mental shields were still firmly in place. Anakin wondered if, being his twin, she could get past the shields with ease. Perhaps one day he would ask about that.
As soon as she was out of the speeder, Anakin turned around to look at his son. "We're going for a walk." He said firmly, leaving no room for argument. Luke nodded, still not looking at him, and got out of the speeder. Anakin followed.
He took his son into the rolling grounds of their fenced in backyard. The land they owned was extensive but also relatively flat, with lots of cypress and other trees dotting the landscape, but there was a quiet little stream running through the backyard that Luke and Leia liked to play by.
Anakin led his son there, hoping that it would calm him enough to talk to him openly. "Luke," Anakin said as they approached the water, "I want to know what happened today. In your own words."
Luke nudged the rocks by the edge of the stream with his sneaker. For a moment, he said nothing, and Anakin opened his mouth to press him more firmly for answers, but Luke finally began. "I was drawing at recess. I felt Leia get stressed out, so I went to go check on her. Jabba was there. He never was mean to her before, but they were being mean to each other today. I tried to get Jabba to leave her alone, but he took my notebook instead. Leia tried to get it back, and then he pushed her, Dad. Hard. So hard, he knocked her to the ground." He paused, searching for the right words. "He hurt my sister. I couldn't let him get away with that. So, I jumped on him, and I hit him. A lot. Really hard." Luke seemed to unconsciously flex the fingers of of his injured hand as he spoke.
Anakin considered his son's words for a moment. "Did you use the Force to help you in this fight?" It was a fair question. If Jabba in their old galaxy was any indication, the kid was probably huge. Luke was small for his age, even smaller than Anakin had been at age seven. So, Anakin doubted Luke would have won in a fair fight.
Sure enough, Luke winced. "Yes, Dad." He said solemnly.
Oh, Force…Normally, he was so very proud of how much like him his son was, but today, he did not feel that way. He felt terrible for passing this trait to his son. But he remembered how Luke had attacked him as Darth Vader when he'd suggested turning his sister to the Dark Side during their final duel on the Death Star. Luke had cut his mechanical hand off for that. He remembered being shocked at the ferocity Luke suddenly fought with, how he'd barely kept up.
"Why didn't you tell me or your mother that you were being bullied, Luke?" He asked, partially because he really wanted to know, and partially because he was trying to come up with a way to address this problem. His son had come perilously close to the Dark Side today. How did he express that fact without terrifying his son?
It took a long time for Luke to respond. Anakin sensed that this was the hardest for Luke to talk about. "I wanted to solve it with peace, like a Jedi. I wanted to do it myself." He looked up at his dad then, his eyes full of anguish. It tore Anakin's heart to shreds. "I wanted to be like you."
Oh, he had been like him today, alright. More than he knew. Anakin sighed and knelt down so that he was at Luke's level. "Son, listen to me. Sometimes, being a Jedi means looking to others for help when you can't solve the problem on your own. We're a team. Sometimes, I need Uncle Ben's help, and sometimes he needs my help. One day, when you're a Jedi, you'll have to rely on other Jedi's help to fix problems, too, and that's okay."
He paused, watching as Luke absorbed his words and nodded. "I'm sorry, Dad."
"I know." He hesitated. Now was the time. "Luke…You need to understand what really happened today...Now, as much as I love and respect that you wanted to protect your sister, fighting isn't always the answer, Son." He hesitated again. "Do you remember the stories I once told you about Anakin Skywalker turning to the Dark Side?"
Luke's expression became guarded. His children still hated that part of the story. "Yes." He reluctantly said.
"And do you remember why he turned to the Dark Side?"
"To save Padme."
"Right." He nodded. "He wanted to protect someone he loved, too, but he chose to protect her by resorting to violence. Now, I'm not saying that what you did today will turn you to the Dark Side, but you attacked someone today and used the Force to help you do it. When you use the Force like that, it can lead to the Dark Side. Your powers can - and should - be used to do a lot of good in this world, but they can also get out of control very quickly, if you let it. Trust me, Luke. The Dark Side will only make things worse, cause you pain, and make you sad. I don't want you to go through that. Not ever." He paused, reaching up to ruffle his son's blonde hair. Again, he noticed the split lip, swollen knuckles, and the bruise on his cheek. "Do you understand why I'm so worried right now?"
He felt Luke begin to open his defenses, and he could feel him reaching out to search for Anakin's presence. He allowed it, showing him how worried he was for him, and how very much he loved him. Finally, Luke nodded. "I'm sorry, Dad. I'm really, really sorry."
Anakin could feel that he meant it, too. He relaxed somewhat. "I know you are. Next time, please come talk to me right away. You know you can always tell me anything, right?"
Luke nodded. "Yes, Daddy."
"Good." Anakin smiled and stood up. "Now, I think your mother is probably worried sick." He paused. "And your mom and I have a surprise for you and Leia."
Luke perked up a bit at that. "A surprise?" He asked, his his eyes wide. "Like what?"
Anakin grinned. "You'll just have to see."
A LOOOONG chapter! I literally spent Memorial Day just writing this, and my poor Beta was like 'this is really long...' XD But I'm just so excited because like...a lot happened in this chapter. I know you guys know that, but you don't REALLY know just how much just went down. Next chapter...oh jeez I'm so excited for it. I'm SO FREAKIN EXCITED. I've been wanting to write it since before I ever wrote chapter one. That's how long. I just... you'll just have to see, okay? Okay.
So I'm super curious to see what you all think! I chose Texas not only because NASA is there, but also because I'm from Texas originally, so it feels like I'm writing about home when I'm writing these scenes.
Also, I posted a big chunk of this story's playlist on my profile. I'll add to it as the story progresses.
This chapter's song was Anakin's Dark Deeds by John Williams. Which he's not doing the score for Rogue One. That's going to be different, but I totally understand why. He's 84 and currently scoring Ep. 8. I'd rather he focused on that. I also suspect he might be sacrificing immortal vampires to help him continue with his genius.
Anyhow, review!
Love,
Sarah
